Automatic Art - Subconscious Painting

Automatic Art - Subconscious Painting

During my last year in high school i wanted to end it with a bang. So i looked into my work more intensely. Analysing my past artwork and my uses of colour i reached deeper into my thinking and wanted to create a series of work based on the topic of psychology. 

Through research and reading it soon lead me to the topic of Automatic Art or in other words Subconscious painting. 

Subconscious painting was by far themes enjoyable yet difficult project I've worked on for quite some time. It was about painting without making decisions, how can you do anything without making a decision? The piece above i remembered, i was painting and then suddenly i snapped and grabbed a charcoal and forced it onto the painting. 

I tried to make subconscious markings with unplanned decisions. 

Its so much harder than you'd think. 

Imagine me thinking, "i want to paint towards that direction", after i thought that i had to force my head to move my hand in ways i don't plan to. I had to argue and fight against myself to accomplish this task of subconscious drawing.  

Random notions of PVA glue spilling and then sand 

Did i want to use these mediums...no, but they were here and i just did it. 

I started to work on larger scales 

These next pieces i decided to use two mediums, Charcoals and white acrylic paint. 

Looking at these are so interesting because it makes you think, what on earth is going through my mind when not processing information consciously.

Are these visual representations of the empty spaces in my mind?

There is no doubt that there are features of the conscious mind in these artworks but mixed in with the subconscious it becomes unusually appealing. 

I moved onto even larger scales, acrylic paintings. 

One feature that i find captivating are the shapes created by my subconscious. 

Why do they have pointed edges and corners, what does that say about me? 

Towards the end of my series there was an exam that i had to take. I think i had 16 hours to create a work of art. I wanted to create the masterpiece of all my subconscious doing. 

After the exam this was my completed piece. 

16 hours of automatic art, 16 hours of subconscious actions generated through me. This is as personal as it gets, this is me, this is like the inside of my brain. Its activities its moving pattern. 

Heres the final outcome. 

Product Design Multi-functional Chair

Product Design Multi-functional Chair

For my finale on my last year at high school doing Product Design i decided to manufacture a multi-functionl chair. I put a lot of time and work into this project and I'm glad i did because the outcome was better than expected. 

First i had to come up with an idea for a chair, i looked at all the problems i faced as well as others had faced when seating on a chair. it came to the conclusion that a chair with an easily accessible table would be great. 

I had the idea to create a chair thats ergonomically pleasing with a function of a table, storage space, extra armrest length and shoe space underneath. 

After restless nights on drawing designs for my product i finally zeroed in on two. 

Then i had to research the anthropometrics of the human body. 

I researched everything primary and secondary from body height, average persons (both man and woman under a certain age) back length, back width, waist size, to the angle of leaning down right and left, average length from buttocks to knee...etc 

Everything i tell you. 

I made models using cardboard and styrofoam and a 1:10 ratio model. 

This was my top idea 

To have a table that swings out and swings in. After using the table you can put it away so it doesn't take up space. Its compact and easily accessible. 

That gap you see the table entering and exiting, i also want to turn that into a box shelf/storage space, the table will only be accessible from one side and the other side you can use to store remote controls, snacks, magazines...etc. 

This second best idea included of a much larger storage space. Space is so precious nowadays, people can't afford large homes and space is expensive, this is why i wanted to create something that prevented the outpacing of space and a furniture. 

A fold out table. 

Plenty of storage space underneath your seat. 

I decided to go with the first idea. 

Below are just a few documented photographs of my manufacturing process. 

I decided to use styrofoam to reduce the weight of the overall product. 

Hot wire cutting 

Throughout the making process i kept germinating great ideas. 

One idea i had was to incorporate my Fine Art Practice into my Deign. 

In Fine Art i was looking at Automatic Art, painting and drawing subconsciously. 

I thought that the fabric to the cushions of my chair can be made using a painting of mine so i did. 

I first had to cut out a set sized MDF, sticking cushion foam on top according to size. 

I then made paintings on canvases at the art department and i wrapped the fabric around the cushion. 

I wanted the extra space in front of your hand so it becomes convenient for the user to put his or her drink down without any hassle at all. Another feature incorporated into the chair. 

At this stage when i was completed my product, i allowed my peers and teachers to sit and try out my chair, it was good to hear feedback from them as it will help tremendously towards whatever i do next. 

This was such an enjoyable experience, i learned so much, and i made this beauty. I'm really proud to have made this piece. 

Fauvist Landscapes of Giggleswick

Fauvist Landscapes of Giggleswick 

During this period i was fascinated with the outdoors just as much as i was fascinated with this style of painting, inspired by the fauves, Claude Monet's Venice twilight was a piece i was truly fascinated by. How the colours set the mood of the painting and therefore the response of the viewership. I realised that colours have a psychological power if used correctly, it can alter a persons mood, change ones emotion or even implant one. 

i even used oil paint to try reproducing the Venice twilight by Monet. 

I went outside and did some life drawings

Experimented with colours and brush makings 

Above pieces were simply paintings on test strips of canvas 

Below are the larger pieces that i took my time on

I worked hard and focused a lot on the brush making, i wanted the details to stand out from a distance, especially in the skies. I wanted the viewers eyesight to move with the markings on the canvas, markings that guide them throughout the entire painting through the uses of colour and directional mark makings of a brush. 

The skies were not as brilliantly executed in the painting above 

This piece i finished my series on. 

The skies are so powerful, i emphasised the blue, like a giant mass of weathering clouds crashing into the landscape, but what it also does is leads the viewers line of sight throughout the whole painting, it guides you from top to bottom. 

These Landscape paintings was one of my most enjoyable series, i look forward to getting back into it in the future.